Big Tuna starts his swim upstream in Miami

The Bill Parcells era for the Dolphins officially began December 26th. But his first big stamp on the organization came on Monday, when he arrived at for work at 8am, walked into GM Randy Mueller's office and told Mueller his services were no longer required in Miami. Parcells and Mueller hadn't sat down prior to this, and apparently never will. Sorry Randy, your term of "final word" on the roster after the Nick Saban years lasted but one season. And it can't be taken as a shock- everyone knows that Parcells is gonna get his guys into place in the front office. New York Jets' director of college scouting Joey Clinkscales, and Jeff Ireland, vice president of college and pro scouting for the Dallas Cowboys appear the early front-runners for the vacated position, with a big edge going to Ireland- having just worked with Parcells in Dallas. Word on the new GM could come as early as tonight.

Next on the packed off-season agenda is the decision on current head coach Cam Cameron. Parcells has said he wants to have his Gm in place before that decision is made, but a meeting is supposed to take place between he and Cameron today. While a decision may take a couple days, Parcells knows he has to work quick; especially if we wants to bring in who many feel would be his top choice, Cowboys' assistant Tony Sparano as a possible candidate- the Cowboys have a bye this week before starting their playoff run.

And then all that's left to do is a major roster overhaul, including making some decisions on key veterans on both sides of the ball, evaluating young players and determining their future with the team, and getting ready for the draft- where currently the Dolphins hold the first overall pick- and deciding on prospects and/or trades that may materialize.

Now Parcells is no dummy, and he knew exactly the situation he was getting into. And he has said that he is going to leave the final decisions to the people he puts in place. But he will most assuredly give himself free reign this off-season to leave his mark, setting up his regime and making the big decisions, before he steps back and lets those individuals run the show. He knows that this off-season, the decisions he makes- from the front office to the roster- will most likely dictate the direction of the franchise under his tenure.